Red Flags with Obama’s Labor Nominee

President Obama has been widely criticized for nominating former Justice Department Civil Rights Division head Thomas Perez to be Labor Secretary.  Concerns about Perez include his views on illegal immigrants and his work in the DOJ.

Senator Jeff Sessions said Perez is “the wrong man for this job.” Sessions explained that Perez’s work with the advocacy group called Casa de Maryland demonstrates his radical views on illegal immigration. 

Sessions declared that Perez “had a controversial tenure at the Department of Justice, where he has demonstrated a fundamentally political approach to the law.”  Perez and other political appointees dismissed career attorneys’ decision to grant preclearance to voter ID law in South Carolina, which then led to costly litigation.  Perez is also linked to the controversial decision to drop the Philadelphia voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers.

Senator David Vitter is concerned that the Justice Department has still not answered questions about the lack of enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act in his state.

Senator Charles Grassley has questions why Perez made a deal with a Minnesota city to withdraw a housing case before the Supreme Court could review it last year.